Colados Yavesa
Colados Yavesa Colados Yavesa (spelt Iafesa in his native High Elvish) was an Elvish scholar from Elavita who became famous not only for his scholarly works but his instrumental role in helping Emperor Athdus III understand and defeat the Xaenis, and leading the ritual that summoned the Dragon Emperor (although Colados himself always referred to the Emperor by his Draconic name; the Flame-Bearer). Early Life Colados was born on Tenara to a middle-class merchant family. From an early age, he displayed exceptional magical ability, as well as a keen interest in nature. After pestering his parents enough, he sailed to Elviae in April of 68 to take the entrance examination for the University of Elviae, applying for the combined course of Natural History with Magical Studies, and performed so excellently that Professor Dana Lodanis paid for his tuition fees out of her own pocket. Colados still had to rely on his parents to pay for accomodation, though, and despite their best efforts they could only afford a very basic living space in the expensive urban centre of Elviae. Colados grew to hate the lectures, but adored every chance he got to deal with experimentation and primary research, becoming such an annoyance to the university authorities in his constant requests to go abroad for research that they eventually wrote a sarcastic note giving him "perpetual permission to go wherever you damn well please". He used this opportunity to the full, taking long trips to the mainland to study the plants and creatures that dwelt there, and becoming the first scholar to begin comprehensively documenting the wildlife of Drazak. Colados could only ever speak a few broken phrases in Drazaki, but he was fluent in Unkhori, which was good enough to get him around the Orcish communities. The nature of Drazak was the focus of his dissertation, published in 79, in which Colados debated the possible origin of the life of Drazak, seeing as it was so different to the rest of the known world. He ultimately came to the conclusion that all life is "either magical or divine in origin" (although in another section he would argue that "magical" and "divine" are in fact the same thing), but that the original form of life was only a basic form which adapted over time to different environments and to tackle competitors. This is the first known coherent theory of evolution to be developed, although Colados admitted himself in his writings that, despite knowing that life could adapt, he had no idea how it adapted, only making the vague statement that "magic is likely involved" (which, again, since Colados argued magical and divine forces were the same thing, means that Colados was also arguing here that the Gods were likely involved). The Xaenis Beginning in approximately 77, Colados began to be plagued by nightmares which progressively increased in vividity to the point where he was fully lucid during the experience. He quickly worked out that these were not natural, but were in fact visions, and somebody was inside his head. After hearing reports of people suddenly struck by the same problem, he sought these people out and, corroborating all their fragmented stories - as well as his own experience - concluded that these visions were the workings of the Xaenis Queen. After working this out, he was visited directly by the Xaenis Queen in a vision, but - in a somewhat scrambled, hastily written and clearly quite terrified diary entry - Colados described how he could only understand parts of what she was saying, and that he was more transfixed on the dark shapes of "terrible monsters". After finishing his dissertation, Colados scoured the library of the University of Elviae, searching for anything related to the Xaenis, however he only found vague references that could easily be referring to something else entirely. With a near-total lack of information, Colados became obsessed with seeking out and learning more about the Xaenis, likely partly due to the influence of the Queen but also due to his own fear that the Queen was going to unleash something awful on the world, and he needed to understand what was going to happen. Colados felt a strange desire to head north which came out of nowhere, and - assuming that it was related to the Queen - he set off northwards in late 80 with few possessions. This left the university baffled as to his whereabouts, especially has he had left just days before they were going to confirm his graduation, and his parents and Professor Dana Lodanis were worried for his safety. With no horse, his progress was slow. On the way, he met a man and a woman camped on the steppe, and stayed with them for a night, where the man revealed that he had also been troubled by the same dark visions - although he could reveal no information that Colados did not already know. When Colados explained his purpose, the man gifted him a bag of gold coins to help him on his way. Colados eventually reached the Great Shield, and thought his journey was at a wasteful end, but he eventually noticed a small crack in the shield through which he managed to squeeze himself. He eventually came across the hive of the Xaenis and, in utter terror and doing his best to hide himself, he wrote down all the information he could fit in his small notebook, describing the monstrous creatures he saw as well as the strange and horrific way that their ecosystem functioned. He was forced to flee after being discovered, and when he returned back through the Great Shield, he learned that the same creatures he had just found had breached the Great Shield and were swarming into Qaateen. He travelled southward as quickly as he could to warn the world about the impending threat, telling as many people as he could along the way. He stopped at Kimato to spread the message and encountered the Nesarian army, where he promptly learned that the man he had encountered on the steppe was Emperor Athdus III and the woman was Kugemukh Avemiri. He realised that his information would be useful to the Nesarian army and he could learn more about how the Xaenis operated by joining them, so he followed Athdus and Avemiri, witnessing the colossal devastation the Xaenis caused but also growing to understand how they functioned. When the Emperor and the Nesarians fled south following the destruction of Ascaria, Colados was key in convincing the Avamorians and Elavitans to join the coalition, and - after learning that the Dragons completely refused to help in any way - remembered the old tales of the Dragon Emperor, causing him to go back to Elviae where Professor Dana Lodanis helped him scour the library for any and all traces of the Dragon Emperor and the Flame-Bearer. He learned bits and pieces of the ritual to summon him, but his understanding was only complete when he travelled to Draconia and met with the Dragons named Kanak (a Redscale) and Okalek (a Pinkscale). Colados, Dana, Kanak and Okalek managed to pin down the location of the Dragon Emperor and performed the ritual under the watch of Emperor Athdus and Kugemukh Avemiri. After successfully summoning the Dragon Emperor, they explained the situation to him, and he promptly travelled to Draconia to berate the Dragons for their cowardice, calling the Grand Flame Host. That point is where the record of Colados' activities becomes virtually unknown. It is assumed that he stayed in the company of Athdus until the Battle of Millions and then returned home, as he only appears in the historical record again when he finally received his doctorate in 92, and he was employed by the University of Elviae as a professor in natural history and magical studies until his retirement in 198. Sexuality Although Colados' sexuality is never mentioned by Colados himself, it is briefly and vaguely mentioned by other sources, and most historians now agree that Colados was a homosexual, and in all likelihood voluntarily celibate, as he is never recorded as having a partner and he was a notoriously devout Elvetan, making it very unlikely (but still possible) that he would have committed what Elvetans see as a serious sin by having romantic or sexual relations with other men.